A year before Blood Feast in another regional US nether-zone where industrial
films were also churned out (Kansas), a minimal
production crew were hard at work assembling their
own vision of horror. With a Twilight Zone handle
on the other-worldly, they turned out Carnival
Of Souls, a high-quality, low-budget,
black and white excursion into the haunted world
of professional church organist Mary Henry.

From the minute Mary emerges from a river covered
in mud, just after the car she was riding in plunged
off a bridge, you're delivered a sense of relief
but also one of unease; a duality the film plays
up until the final frame. While Mary goes about
her business as if the crash never occurred, cracks
begin to appear in her reality. It's these 'cracks'
that are going to keep you with the film or leave
you laughing. Her first vision of a ghostly white
face happens during an overnight drive. Even though
she's forced off the road it's perfectly plausible
to hallucinate on a long drive but what's feeding
her obsession with such visions? As Mary attempts
to settle into her new job in a new town other
events occur that unsettle her momentarily but
she strides on until she thinks she's been locked
in a dressing room at a department store. Upon
getting out everyone ignores her. In the street
she is freaked out by a man at a drinking fountain
and runs straight into the arms of a doctor to
whom she unloads her strange feeling of non-existence.
The Doctor challenges her use of imagination and
although incensed by his commentary all she can
do is give into her obsession with the abandoned
fun fair at the end of a local pier. The next
day Mary is sacked from her job as a simple rehearsal
turns into a full blown freakout. Later, a night out with a neighbour who she's being trying to
resist ends disastrously with the man sobered
by Mary's reaction to another hallucination and
suddenly he's resisting her. The next day Mary
attempts to leave town and snaps out of her trance
long enough to suffer another hallucination while
at a mechanics. Mary does make it out of town
but finds herself driving again towards the fun
fair at the end of the pier. Here the ghostly
denizens give chase, this time actually catching
her. Cut back to the intial accident.

Video

Cheapest transfer of the nearest available print
completely un-remastered but after some nasty rips
mar the opening credits things rapidly get smoother.

Audio

Crisp Mono mix punches out an overall eerie sound.
Mary's (sometimes blasphemous) organ playing is
a great integral piece of the soundscape. The use
of sound effects and the lack of any sounds but
Mary's voice in several scenes also gives this film
a superbly ghostly aural aura.

Extra Features

None.

The Verdict

In Melbourne in the late 80s Carnival
Of Souls played the now defunct Longford
Cinema just in time to head off it's first official
Australian video tape release. I can still hear
audience laughter at some of the ghost imagery. Carnival Of Souls might play twice
as camp on the big screen but up close and personal
it's clear to see the filmmakers inentions were
far more serious. It's also a fantastic exercise
in low budget ingenuity that goes to show that great
work can happen anywhere. Still highly efffective
after all these years and definitely worth the viewing
effort for anyone even vaguely interested in the
horror film.

Originally born unto this world as Terror Australis.net back in March 2002, Digital Retribution is a proudly Australian website devoted to all things horror, cult, and exploitation that strives to promote Australian films and filmmakers while sharing its questionable taste in ultra-violent smut-laden local and international offerings with the rest of the world.